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It’s hard to place all that much importance on an April series against a division rival, but the Mariners series win over the Rangers last weekend was pretty important. Not only did it serve as a reset after a tough stretch of games — not unlike the Astros series a few weekends ago — it also ensured Seattle has a much better chance to win the season series — and the all-important tiebreaker — later on this season. It’s probably too early to start worrying about things like that. First, the M’s need to take care of business against another upstart division rival.

The Athletics have gotten off to a bit of an up-and-down start to the season. A few weeks ago, they won consecutive series against the Astros, Yankees, and Mets but just dropped a three-game set against the White Sox last weekend. The young offense that looked so impressive last year has gotten off to a bit of a slow start this season. They’re just 19th in baseball with 4.14 runs scored per game. 

There are a ton of high-whiff, high-power guys populating the A’s lineup and then there’s Jacob Wilson and Jeff McNeil. Those two high-contact hitters aren’t enough to offset the high strikeout rates from guys like Nick Kurtz, Lawrence Butler, or Shea Langeliers; the team’s strikeout rate is fifth highest in baseball right now. After taking a pretty big step forward last year, Langeliers has been even better this season. He’s already blasted six home runs and is currently sporting a 163 wRC+. Kurtz, in particular, has gotten off to a slow start at the plate. The reigning Rookie of the Year has hit only two home runs this year, though he’s walking in more than a quarter of his plate appearances; opposing pitchers are treating him a lot more carefully after he torched the league last summer. He isn’t the only guy off to a slow start; Tyler Soderstrom (87 wRC+ so far), Wilson (68), and Butler (58) have all scuffled in April.

Probable Pitchers 

Updated Stuff+ Explainer 

• Stuff+ scores for Mariners starters

J.T. Ginn has spent the last few seasons bouncing between the rotation and the bullpen for the A’s. He’s dealt with a number of injuries over the years, stunting his development, but the stuff models really love his sinker-slider combo. He gets a ton of groundballs with those two pitches and can turn to a pretty good changeup to get a whiff if he needs it. Considering the problems the A’s have had developing mid-rotation arms, and Ginn’s penchant for groundball contact, it’s surprising they haven’t given him a longer look in the rotation. 

Jacob Lopez was a surprise last year. Never regarded as a top prospect, and a throw-in in the Jeffrey Springs trade a few years ago, he had a stretch of 13 starts last summer where he ran a 2.64 ERA and a 3.08 FIP. He ran into the Mariners on August 24, allowed nine runs, and was placed on the IL with an elbow strain the next day. His raw stuff just isn’t that impressive; his fastball barely averages 90 mph and a slow looping slider is hardly optimized for whiffs. Still, some deception in his throwing motion allows his stuff to play up a bit.

The A’s signed Aaron Civale in February to give them another veteran innings eater while their top pitching prospects continue to develop in the minors. Pitching for his sixth team in four years, he’s a prototypical back-end starter with a deep repertoire. He doesn’t stand out in any one area, but average skills across the board help him work through a lineup a couple of times without courting disaster. His best pitch is a hammer curveball and he’ll mix in five other pitches to keep batters off balance.

The Big Picture:

The AL West standings are currently a big ol’ mess. The Rangers and A’s are tied in first with matching .500 records with the Angels and Mariners following close behind. And then there’s the Astros who are limping along at the bottom with the second worst record in the AL. Texas returns home to begin a long homestand beginning with a series against the Pirates, Los Angeles hosts the struggling Blue Jays, and Houston will try and turn things around in Cleveland this week.

The New York Yankees have obviously had many successful decades in their history, but despite winning more games than anyone in baseball in the ’80s, it ranks among their lowest-achieving. After losing the World Series in 1981, the Bombers wouldn’t play postseason baseball for well over a decade, not playing meaningful October ball again until 1995. Though that stretch was rough on the organizational level, they were fortunate enough to at least enjoy a player who would be one of the franchise greats during that stretch, Don Mattingly.

The Captain of the Yankees, despite having his career cut short by injuries, was a six-time All-Star, won nine Gold Gloves, three Silver Sluggers, and an MVP award. In a so-so stretch in the Bronx, Mattingly provided excitement by reaching heights few players do.

Donald Arthur Mattingly
Born: April 20, 1961 (Evansville, IN)
Yankees Tenure: 1982-95

Drafted out of an Indiana high school in the 19th round of the 1979 MLB Draft, Mattingly absolutely tore up minor-league pitching from the beginning, and ascended to the big leagues within just a few years. After a solid season in Triple-A in 1982, Mattingly earned a call-up late in that season to join the big club in the Bronx. Wearing No. 46 at the time rather than the number that he would soon make famous, Mattingly recorded a pair of hits in seven games that season.

The future star earned himself a roster spot in 1983, but was unable to find much playing time on the veteran-laden team before returning to Triple-A Columbus. He once again destroyed the minors with an OPS over 1.000, and when a roster spot opened up due to Bobby Murcer’s retirement, Mattingly was called to fill it. Donnie Baseball would never look back.

That season, he showed he could at least survive in the big leagues with a 107 OPS+ in 305 plate appearances. As the years to come would show, Mattingly could do a far more than just survive — as he would enter more than a half-decade as one of the game’s better position players.

1984 was Mattingly’s first chance at a full-time role out of camp, and the lefty took full advantage of it. In 153 games, Donnie Baseball led the league in hits, doubles, and batting average (edging out teammate Dave Winfield in a memorable battle), while topping 20 homers and posting an astute 156 OPS+. That first All-Star season was only a sign of things to come, as Mattingly continued to blister American League pitching throughout the 1980s.

1985 saw Mattingly hit a different level, as he was now paired with speedster Rickey Henderson at the top of the lineup. The combination worked out as well as it could, as Henderson led the league with 146 runs, and Mattingly in RBI with 145. It was another step forward in the power department as well, as he swatted 35 homers, including 26 in the final 76 games. He led the league again in doubles, as well as RBI and total bases, while collecting another All-Star selection, a Silver Slugger, and the first of five straight Gold Gloves. His monster season was capped off with his selection as the 1985 American League MVP.

The following year was debatably even better for Mattingly. In 1986, the Yankees’ first baseman played in all 162 games, leading the league with a franchise-record (!) 238 hits and 53 doubles, also leading the majors at 388 total bases while swatting 30-plus homers once again en route to an AL-best (and career-best) 161 OPS+. He placed second in MVP voting, behind Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, but he continued to build on his trophy case, in the middle of what continued to be a stellar run.

As Mattingly entered his late-20s, he continued to produce as the leader of the Yankees. From 1987-89, the team captain averaged well over 20 homers, hit to the tune of a 136 OPS+, and collected an All-Star selection and a Gold Glove Award in each of those three years, as well as a Silver Slugger for good measure. The first of those seasons was one for the record books in two different ways, as Mattingly tied a record with homers in eight consecutive games from July 8th through the 18th and set a new standard with six grand slams in one year (a mark since tied by Cleveland’s Travis Hafner in 2006). It was a bit of a quirk, as he never hit a slam before ’87 and never hit another one after that year, but it was impressive nonetheless.

At the very beginning of the 1990 season, Mattingly signed a five-year $19.3 million deal, making him the highest-paid player in baseball. Despite the big price tag, this was also the time that Donnie Baseball’s career took a turn for the worse. By mid-season, he was hitting under .250, with essentially no power in the bat. It was not without reason, as the back he injured a few years prior was acting up again, and it was enough to force him to miss most of the season from July onward. It was the worst year of his career, as he hit just five homers with a 72 wRC+ in 428 plate appearances.

1991 was a subpar offensive year again, as Mattingly had a 99 wRC+ and hit just nine home runs in 152 games. He would experience a couple of bounce-back seasons in 1992 and ‘93, hitting 14 and 17 home runs respectively, and posting a 114 OPS+ in that span. He was no slouch, but his career was slowing down awfully fast for a 32-year-old former superstar.

Mattingly played well in the 1994 season, in what looked to be a prime chance for him to make his postseason debut with the Yanks leading the AL at 70-43, but it was a year that was cut short due to the strike. Although play resumed in ‘95, it was another disappointing year for Mattingly, now 34, and his worst in a few years with just six homers and a .754 OPS. Despite all this, he turned on the jets down the stretch as the Yankees just barely secured the first AL Wild Card with a 22-6 finish, Mattingly batting .321 with a .472 slugging percentage in his final month of regular-season play. He knew that he was probably jeopardizing any playing future due to severe wear and tear on his back through this kind of play, but his long wait for meaningful October baseball was over.

Although their postseason run only lasted through the Division Series thanks to a furious comeback by Seattle, Mattingly hit .417 with four doubles and a homer in his first postseason experience. It was a run that included one of the most thrilling moments in Yankees history, which literally made the old Yankee Stadium shake.

That postseason would come to stand as the end of Mattingly’s playing career at the age of 34. The Yankees would, of course, go on to win four World Series in the next five years.

Despite the lack of team success during his tenure, Mattingly’s impact on the franchise is impossible to deny. Not only did he help to usher in that new era of success, but there is something to be said for being the statistical and emotional leader of a team through forgettable times. Mattingly was also simply one of the game’s best at the peak of a career that was unfortunately cut short. The ripple effects of his leadership were felt during the dynasty that followed, as his character was held in the highest reverence by the likes of Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, and Paul O’Neill.

After his playing days were over, Mattingly went on to a successful career in the dugout, beginning as a hitting coach with the Yankees from 2004-06. He was bumped up to bench coach in 2007 and interviewed to succeed Joe Torre as Yankees skipper, but the club elected to go with Joe Girardi. So Mattingly joined Torre when he took the job as Dodgers manager, and he ended up succeeding him in LA in 2011. He was there at the ascendance of the Dodgers’ dynasty, winning the first three of their dozen division titles since 2013 before Dave Roberts replaced him. Mattingly then went on to lead the Marlins and garnered NL Manager of the Year honors for a surprise Wild Card berth with the Fish in the shortened 2020. He got his first taste of World Series play as the bench coach of the 2025 Blue Jays, but a ring continues to elude him. He currently serves as the bench coach for the Phillies, where his son Preston is the GM under Dave Dombrowski.

Although Mattingly has made a fair mark in the dugout for other franchises, it obviously pales in comparison to his impact on an otherwise dark period for the Yankees. His excellent play was poorly timed as far as the team goes, but that does not diminish its significance.

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

As another former Mets’ skipper, Yogi Berra, once famously opined: “It’s getting late early”.

Fair or not, the writing is on the wall for current Mets’ manager Carlos Mendoza: His time with the club is approaching its end.

It felt somewhat inevitable with last year’s collapse, and it appears all but etched in stone as the team’s losing streak reached an unfathomable, incomprehensible eleven games. The Mets haven’t lost 11 straight since the 2004 season—incidentally, the team fired Art Howe about a week after that losing streak ended. If they lose on Tuesday, their losing streak will reach 12 games, their longest since 2002. Bobby Valentine was fired at the end of that season. It’s simply hard to survive that much prolonged failure, whether it’s directly your fault or not.

The current Mets’ situation calls to mind another skipper who faced the ax. In 2006, the Mets seemed poised for a World Series run, and their season was cut short in the NLCS (sound familiar?) In 2007, the Mets suffered a monumental collapse which concluded with a loss to the Marlins on the final day of the regular season (again, familiar?) In 2008, a lethargic start with sky-high expectations led to the team firing Willie Randolph in one of the most embarrassing (and inappropriate) ways imaginable, in the middle of the night after a win at the start of a June West Coast trip. While these two situations are not entirely mirror images, they do bear striking resemblances, and will likely end the same way—did I mention the Mets also poached Randolph from the Yankees, much like Mendoza?

I think the current Mets regime knows well enough not to repeat the same mistakes of the past regime—I will add, for no reason in particular, that the Mets do have a trip to Anaheim Los Angeles coming up in a couple of weeks, so Mendoza may want to book a back-up return flight, just in case. Hell, Mendoza may not even have a job by Tuesday, let alone two weeks from now. But the greater point is that, when captaining a ship that goes down the way the 2007 and 2025 Mets, it’s hard to recover in the court of public perception, unless everything goes right (and everything has, decidedly, gone wrong).

One could argue that, in both instances, the Mets should have never let it get to the point it did. The collapse of 2007 greatly overshadowed the success of 2006, to the point that Randolph entered 2008 a dead man walking. Similarly, the failures of 2025 all but erased the good will built up during the 2024 OMG/Grimace/Rally Pumpkin playoff run. With the Mets jettisoning basically every coach besides Mendoza after last season, it seemingly made sense to just clean house entirely. In failing to do so, Mendoza entered 2026 on a short leash, one that has all but run out with a disastrous start nobody, not even the most pessimistic in the fanbase or in the media, could have seen coming.

So that brings us to the $64,000 question (or, more accurately, the $381 million question): What should the Mets do with Mendoza? In times like this, when expectations are what they are and results are…well, this…something has to be done, and as we’ve all come to learn, you can’t fire or trade an entire team. The torches are getting hotter, the pitchforks are getting sharper, and the screams are getting louder, so much so that Steve Cohen and David Stearns cannot ignore it for that much longer. This failure, to be clear, falls squarely on the shoulders of the players, and while Mendoza is far from a great manager, he is the easiest target to do something and show the outside world that they are taking this seriously.

I’m of the belief that most managers don’t really have much of an impact on the day-to-day results, especially in modern baseball. I can’t even really point to much he could do differently in this exact scenario to make things better. I don’t think firing Mendoza will functionally change anything, and I’m not a huge believer of firings to “light a fire under the players’ asses” or whatever phrase you want to use. If nothing else, the players, led by Francisco Lindor, have given Mendoza a vote of confidence, but the way they’re playing, that means less than nothing. At the end of the day, Mendoza is the public face of this mess, and there’s enough criticism of his work that it won’t seem like a desperation move and people will come to understand the rationale.

Mendoza has two things strongly working against him: a) the aforementioned collapse, and b) an expiring contract. The Mets have fired managers with many more years left on their deal, so parting with a manager with a few months left to go anyway will not phase them. If anything, it makes a decision much easier, allowing them to review an interim—Kai Correa? Carlos Beltran? Probably the former more than the latter—and make a determination on the future direction they want to go in.

We can’t close this discussion without addressing the elephant in the room: David Stearns. Fans are extremely split, to put it mildly, on the job he has done here, with some praising his focus on modernizing the organization and improving the farm system, and others blasting the choices he’s made to field a competitive major league roster. Many fans already entered this season ready to throw hands with Stearns for letting some fan favorites go, and that was before these results. Stearns, it stands to reason, should face as much criticism as anyone for the early-season struggles, but let’s make one thing clear (and I say this without any inside knowledge whatsoever): Stearns is under no threat to be fired, this year or likely in many future years. Steve Cohen has put a lot of trust into Stearns, and letting go of him this early will torpedo any trust the organization may have in searching for his replacement, and make the organization a laughingstock—well, more of one, anyway. Moreover, Cohen would have to return to making the baseball decisions, and he does not seem eager to do so. Love him or hate him, Stearns is here to stay, to make the decision on both the Mets manager and future player and personnel moves for the foreseeable future.

So that brings us back to Mendoza. The Mets ultimately face two choices: Fire Mendoza or do nothing at all. There are no player moves to be made and no front office decisions to be had. As such, Mendoza is probably gone, if not in April, then before Memorial Day. Aside from the brief boost that inevitably follows a move like this—a warning to the players, an improvement in performance, a reprieve of negative public perception—the team will likely continue to underwhelm and miss the playoffs. Very few teams have lost 11 straight and rebounded, and this one, while loaded with talent, doesn’t inspire confidence that it can buck that trend.

This is the time for decisive action, not waffling from the team’s leadership. Stearns and Cohen currently have the media and weight of the fanbase breathing down their necks, and are facing harsh economic blowback (an empty stadium, fewer merch and concession sales, etc.) if they do nothing. If this is the decision the team is currently leaning towards, then the firing should probably happen before tomorrow’s game, because if the team builds up any momentum between now and, say, when they decide to fire him, it’ll look even worse. Mendoza’s time is clearing ticking, so the best (and perhaps most humane) thing to do would be to not let it drag on any longer and relieve him of his duties. It’s not entirely fair, but as we’ve learn, baseball isn’t always that fair.

In 2023, I thought it would be fun to title my series previews using lyrics from Beastie Boys songs. It seemed like a fine idea until the Phillies found themselves seven games under .500 in early June. I decided that they no longer deserved me making the effort to find an appropriate song lyric. Once I stopped, the team promptly began to play better.

As you may have noticed, I had been using Guns N’ Roses lyrics for my series preview titles, and just like in 2023, it hasn’t been going very well for the team. Therefore, GNR is being shelved, and I am switching back to the player-focused opposition research previews from last season. If the team’s fortunes turn around, feel free to thank me.

After a dreadful homestand, the Phillies will head to Wrigley Field to face the Cubs. Despite the Phillies’ success at home in recent seasons, it is probably for the best that they get away from the understandably irate hometown fans for a little bit.

After a slow start, the Cubs enter the series on a five-game winning streak, partly because they’ve had the good fortune of playing the Phillies and the Mets. One of their hottest hitters in second baseman Nico Hoerner, who appears to be adding top offensive performance to his elite defensive game.

Hoerner spent the first seven years of his career as an excellent defender (two Gold Gloves) and adequate hitter. You can do far worse than a Gold Glove middle infielder putting up an OPS over .700. But this season, he has been far more than adequate. He’s batting .325 with three home runs (his career high for a season is ten) and leads the NL with 21 RBIs.

There’s a good chance the Hoerner won’t be able to keep it up and he’ll slowly regress closer to the numbers we’re used to. But if he can find a way to continue this performance for a full season, he’ll likely find himself in MVP discussions at the end of the year.

Pennant year song battle

It’s a Mistake by Men at Work defeated Clumsy to hold on to the title.

The next contender comes from 2022 and describes how most Phillies fans feel about the team right now: I Hate U by SZA:

Vote now:

Additional thought about the series

Maybe the team really has collapsed, and the future is as bleak as some want to believe. But I still have trouble looking at the roster and seeing a bad team, despite what the on-field results indicate. It would be one thing if the older players were showing a drastic drop off, but that hasn’t really been the problem. It just seems to be a team-wide malaise in which they’ve been a special combination of unlucky and bad.

This core has gone through other awful stretches in recent seasons (Think May 2023 and July 2024) and eventually came out of it, so there’s reason to believe they will do so again. But darned if this hasn’t been painful to watch.

This past Friday, amid the Mets' then-eight-game losing streak, president of baseball operations David Stearns spoke with reporters in the dugout ahead of the team's three-game series with the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Stearns, who regularly makes himself available to reporters once per homestand and also speaks to provide updates on big injuries or big player moves, does not ordinarily have the kind of press gaggle that he did on Friday.

The Mets were on the road. There was no injury to announce. There was no move to discuss.

Stearns was simply being accountable, given the Mets' rough stretch.

That day, Stearns expressed confidence in manager Carlos Mendoza, talked about the team's offensive difficulties, and said that urgency was not the issue.

Then, the Mets went out and got swept by the Cubs, extending their losing streak to 11 games while falling to 7-15 on the year.

The season is by no means lost, but it's getting to a point where the Mets are flirting with digging a hole that might be too big to climb out of.

With that as the backdrop, who is to blame for what has gone wrong this season?

Let's assess it, from least responsible to most...

Carlos Mendoza

Managers are often the fall guys when teams underperform. And Mendoza, who is in the final guaranteed year of the three-year contract he signed when he was hired by Stearns in November of 2023, is a lame duck of sorts.

The Mets hold a club option on Mendoza for the 2027 season, but just overhauled most of his coaching staff and jettisoned a big chunk of the roster's core.

Still, there's seemingly not much Mendoza could be doing that would change what has befallen the Mets.

During their 11-game losing streak, the Mets have lost nine times because they couldn't score more than a few runs, and lost twice because Kodai Senga got shellacked.

This entire streak has also come without Juan Soto, which should add an asterisk to it -- especially when assessing the manager.

Meanwhile, already without Soto, the Mets recently lost Jorge Polanco to the IL.

That has left Mendoza to insert players who would either be backups or in Triple-A into a lineup that was already drastically underperforming.

If there's one thing that is fair to partially lay at the feet of Mendoza, it's the alarming amount of mental errors the team has made, including forgetting how many outs there are and being out of position. But it's unfair to blame him for whatever has been going on with Francisco Lindor, who has been in a bit of a fog in the field at times.

With all that said, it's fair to wonder what the Mets will do if their losing streak reaches 13 or 14 games, or if they have a brutal nine-game homestand against the Twins, Rockies, and Nationals.

David Stearns

As the person responsible for assembling the roster, it is Stearns who shoulders much more of the blame for what is happening.

That these struggles are going on a few months after Stearns really put his stamp on the team by moving on from Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil, and Edwin Diaz has put an even bigger magnifying glass on the situation.

However, it's fair to point out that most people who cover baseball for a living (and most projection systems) had the 2026 Mets being a very good team. And after the 2025-26 offseason started slowly for New York, Stearns pounced late, turning the Mets into a team many thought would win the NL East.

But paper doesn't always translate to the field. And while Stearns brought in players whose additions were lauded (including Bo Bichette), his plan also meant that a big portion of the roster would be adjusting on the fly to a new team, a new market, and -- in some cases -- a new position.

About the positional situation...

Bichette being at third base (where he's looked much more smooth lately), a revolving door of players who aren't natural first basemen manning that position, and some others who are natural infielders being in right field with Soto out (including Brett Baty) hasn't helped. But it has also been blown out of proportion. Specifically, fielding issues haven't cost the Mets any games during this losing streak.

It should also be noted that Stearns' infamous "run prevention" term had just as much to do with pitching as it did with defense. It's strange that many seem to have forgotten that.

In any event, the early on-field returns on Stearns' offseason are poor. Aside from Luis Robert Jr., all of the key offensive additions have performed poorly at the plate. That includes Bichette (54 OPS+, uncharacteristically high strikeout rate), Jorge Polanco (who had a 52 OPS+ before landing on the IL) and Marcus Semien, who was brought in mostly for his glove, but whose struggles have been a tough juxtaposition with how Brandon Nimmo is performing for the Rangers -- slashing .311/.386/522 with four homers.

While Nimmo has excelled, the three other core pieces who are no longer Mets are not performing well. Alonso (92 OPS+, two homers), McNeil (94 OPS+), and Edwin Diaz (10.50 ERA, 2.33 WHIP, diminished velocity, possible health issue) have all had their own issues.

Devin Williams, Diaz's replacement, got off to a great start before getting tagged last week in the first game he had pitched in eight days, and blowing the save in Sunday's loss. So the jury is still very much out on that move.

The players

There have been some unforeseen circumstances thrown in the players' way to start the season.

The most crippling was the injury to Soto, which has taken an MVP-level bat out of the middle of the lineup.

Another is the fact that Lindor could still be dealing with the after-effects of surgery on his hamate bone.

The Mets have also played in some truly awful weather conditions over the first three-plus weeks of the season, and have been handed a schedule that borders on the absurd (including the fact that they've already made two separate trips to the West Coast).

But good teams persevere through obstacles, and this Mets team has not done so.

The most alarming thing on the offensive side has been the performance of Bichette. And while Lindor's bat has start to come around, others -- including Baty and Mark Vientos -- haven't done much. Carson Benge has been better lately, but still needs to do a lot more.

There's also the approach, which has been in between far too often, with hitters expanding the zone, failing to work deep counts, hitting the ball on the ground too much, and watching hittable fastballs go by.

On the pitching side of things, Nolan McLean, Clay Holmes, and Freddy Peralta have been formidable in the rotation. But both Senga and David Peterson have struggled so badly lately that their spots in the rotation came into question. 

The bullpen performed well out of the gate, but has stumbled lately, including poor performances by Williams, Luke Weaver, and Brooks Raley -- who were all terrific for the first few weeks of the season.

As has been noted already multiple times, though, this tailspin has been mostly on the offense. And it will be on that group to turn this around before it's too late.